Pineapple Truffle Bread

Over the holidays, we somehow ended up with two containers of crushed pineapple in the fridge. I put it in my oatmeal nearly daily (with almond butter, coconut and craisins), but I still had a bit left. Decided that I would try and recreate one of my favorite See's candies, the pineapple truffle.

With the boy needing more snacks that are wheat and corn free, I knew what needed to be done first. I went back to my quick bread ratio for a starting place. Made sure I had lots of chocolate (he says there isn't enough). The only thing missing, in my opinion, is some coconut sugar, And maybe more pineapple.

Pineapple Truffle Bread

8 ounces crushed pineapple with juice

4 ounces melted coconut oil

2 eggs

4 ounces teff flour

2 ounces dark chocolate cocoa powder

2 ounces all purpose gluten free flour

4 ounces sugar

1 tsp baking soda

Handful dark chocolate chips

Handful chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium size bowl, combine pineapple, cooled coconut oil, and eggs. Set aside. In a smallish bowl, stir together flours, cocoa powder, baking soda and sugar. Pour slowly into egg mixture and stir until combined. Add chocolate chips (the boy says add more than called for) and pecans/almonds if you want. Grease four small loaf pans, and fill with batter. Bake for roughly 40 minutes or until a testing tool comes out clean. Cool and enjoy!

Note: I would add maybe another ounce of pineapple to the batter and/or make a glaze (powdered sugar and pineapple juice) to pour over the top to increase the pineapple flavor.

Ratio Rally Tea Breads

I do believe this is my first post of the year. I have written parts of posts, but due to illnesses, surgery and family emergencies I never quite got back to them. My four jobs haven't helped much either. That said, when the idea of tea breads was floated to the Ratio Rally I jumped on it. The Monkey and I are huge lovers of other quick breads, and this seemed the best way to get my feet wet again in the blogging sense.

Quick breads are used for breakfast or for late afternoon tea time or anytime. I have been known to serve them at lunch with a side for fresh fruit and yogurt. The ratio makes it a fairly simple item to put together. The ratio for quick breads is 2 flour: 2 liquid: 1 egg: 1 fat. With that in mind, let's visit the other blogger's take on tea breads.

Heather: Discovering the Extraordinary -- "Figgy" Tea Bread

Adina: Gluten Free Travellette -- Rhubarb Tea Bread

Morri: Meals with Morri -- Oatmeal Raisin Tea Bread

Brooke: B & the boy! -- Scottish Tea Bread

 

Scottish Tea Bread

8 ounces Scottish breakfast tea

4 ounces canola oil

2 large eggs

4 ounces oatmeal cookies, crushed

3 ounces sorghum

1 ounce potato starch

4 ounces dry oatmeal

4 ounces raw sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

Boil water for making the tea. Add to one tea bag in your glass measuring cup. Steep for 30 minutes, and remove bag. Set aside. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients thoroughly. Add all wet ingredients, and stir until just combined. Bake at 350 degrees F for 60-75 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Makes one large and one small loaf.

Ratio Rally Tortillas

When the Monkey was first diagnosed with his allergies, I was all gung-ho to make everything from scratch, and tortillas were near the top of my list due to his excessive love of the bean burrito. Let me say that my one and only attempt was a failure. Not just any failure, but a huge flop. They couldn't even be cooked it was that bad. Sigh.

So we looked into alternatives and found the brown rice tortillas from Food for Life. These are good, but went bad before we could use them all. So, I just gave in and we dealt with the flour tortillas. His allergy causes behavioral issues, and since we didn't do it often I was okay with this level of exposure. You will find that we make decisions like this a lot around here.Since then those tortillas have become available in the frozen section giving them a longer shelf life, but again I just couldn't see the point given the frequency (say maybe one or two a month?) that we ate them.

Shredded chicken, peppers, adzuki beans, & a bit of mango sauce

Tortillas were on my mind again though when I decided to host the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally. After a little discussion, I was put on the calendar for this month, and I started doing my research. Know what my research shows? That there really isn't a standard ratio for this "baked" item. Rhulman doesn't have one, and every recipe that I have looked at is just enough different that you can't make a generalization. Or at least that is my interpretation of it.

You do need three things. Flour, water and fat. I think at the final hour I finally licked this ratio thing. At least in the sense that I found something that works even if it isn't pretty. The math? You have heard me mention that my math brain doesn't work real good, right? I ended up with roughly (verrrrry roughly) a 2:1:1 ratio of flour:water:fat. It really isn't that clean, but we will leave it at that and you can play with it, right?

Before I get to my recipe, I want to make sure you can go and visit all the amazing bloggers who have participated this month in the tortilla/wraps challenge. Please visit, comment, and re-create their creations. :)

Jenn | Jenn Cuisine	Corn Tortillas
Jonathan | The Canary Files	Vegan Curried Flour Tortillas
Meg | Gluten-Free Boulangerie	Lefse (Norwegian Potato Flatbread)
Pete and Kelli | No Gluten, No Problem	Flour Tortillas
TR | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies	Gluten Free Flour Tortillas - Quesadilla
Heather | Discovering the Extraordinary	Sundried Tomato & Basil Tortillas
Charissa | Zest Bakery	Paleo Grain-Free and Gluten-Free Tortillas
Karen | Cooking Gluten Free!	Gluten Free Healthy Flours Tortillas

Buckwheat Tortillas

100 grams buckwheat flour
60 grams brown rice flour
40 grams potato starch
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 Cup + 2 Tablespoons hot water
1/4 Cup + 2 Tablespoons melted coconut oil

This recipe from Jazibe's Recipes was the one that got this off the ground.

So measure it out and mix it up. Add water and oil to a well in the middle of your flour. Mix it with your extremely clean hands until it comes into a nice ball. If it is still crumbly feel free to add another tablespoon or two of hot water. This is what did the trick for mine.  Roll into 6 fairly equal balls and let rest for 10-20 minutes under a damp cloth. Roll them out one at a time to about a 6 inch diameter. Cook in a warm skillet (Or griddle. oh, how I wish I had one of those) for about 90 seconds on each side. Cool and fill with whatever you like.

Black beans & rice with a bit of guacamole? yes please!

Ratio Rally: Bread

It is time again for the Gluten Free Ratio Rally hosted by Karen of Cooking Gluten Free. This month was bread, my arch-nemesis. Those of you who have been around awhile will recall that I had horrible results when we first went gluten free trying to make bread and/or find a store bought that the Monkey would eat. When we finally found a frozen bread he would eat, I stopped trying to make a sandwich bread, and concentrated my efforts on less frustrating endeavors.

In walks this months challenge with a big grin on its face. I was so not taking that, and dove right in after contemplating what I was going to do. It was obvious after I remembered the big, ol' bag of buckwheat flour I had bought for another project. Everything seemed to be going well until I went to cut into it. My ratio was pretty near the 5:1 (flour:liquid) that is recommended. It came out a bit dry and a little crumbly. Stood up okay to the sandwich test. I think it needs a bit more liquid even though it looked alright. Sadly, the Monkey thought it tasted yucky. Brat! I think I will be trying a potato bread variation next.

200 grams oat flour

200 grams buckwheat flour

80 grams tapioca starch

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/4 Cup honey or agave

1 egg

1 Cup vanilla non-dairy milk

1 1/2 teaspoon yeast

This is what it looked like before raising.

After raising

Out of the oven

End result: It looked good, tasted good, and made a good sandwich. It just isn't quite right so you aren't getting a "real" recipe. Sorry!

Ratio Rally Bagels

This post nearly didn't happen, and I am not sure that it really is happening. My idea was a long time in coming, and motivation was waylaid by the allergy monster. Incidentally, the allergy monster did a number on my workouts as well. It's been a rough month.

So why did it almost not happen? Ummm, the first batch came out like hockey pucks. Seriously. The batter was gorgeous, and tasted good. Then we got to the rising (not really), shaping (ha!), boiling (they were boiled), and then baking. It just wasn't pretty. Given the way the second batch has turned out my money is on the yeast being out of date. Even though I kept it in the fridge I just think it wasn't meant to be. So new yeast yields a new result. Crossing my fingers. Did you cross yours?

....and they aren't what I wanted. Sigh. Now I think I don't have enough flour. The idea behind these came from my sister who remembers having peanut butter bagels when we were younger. I did a little searching, and found this recipe at Have Cake, Will Travel that I based mine off of. I played with the ratio, and think I came close to the 1.9 flour:1 liquid. However, I can't honestly say what's a liquid or a flour or a bagel at this point. For a more coherent explanation of this month's rally, you should check out our host Morri at Meals with Morri where the complete list of yummy, gluten free bagels is ready for you to enjoy.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Bagels

150 grams oat flour
100 grams brown rice flour
50 grams arrowroot starch
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 Cup water (heated to 100 degrees F)
1 package active dry yeast
2 Tablespoons agave nectar
4 ounces peanut butter (or whatever you can use)
2-4 heaping Tablespoons jam (in this case Blueberry Butter made by Hundred Acre Farm)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a large cookie sheet and set aside. In large mixing bowl, combine flours and salt. Set aside. (I like that phrase!) In a 2 cup glass measuring cup, warm your water. I microwaved for about 2 minutes, and then had to let it cool back down to 100-ish degrees.  Pour in agave and yeast. Stir to combine, and....set aside to do its frothy thing. Add peanut butter to flour, and mix well. Once the yeast mixture is ready pour into mixer, and beat well.

The next instructions were for kneading, and maybe I should have done it. I prefer to let the mixer do it for me. Either way the dough should be worked in some way for about 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl coated with oil/spray that will allow the dough to double in size. Cover with plastic wrap, and set your timer for about an hour. Go do the dishes or exercise while waiting. Punch down the dough, divide into 4 pieces, and shape into balls. Let rest for about 10 minutes. While you are waiting this time you will want to bring your sauce pot of water to a boil. Divide the dough again and roll into balls that are fairly smooth in texture. Flatten and then make a hole in the middle. These babies should rest again. It is really tiring being a bagel.

Put each bagel in gently for 30 seconds before turning for another 30 seconds. Remove from boiling water to the prepared pan with a slotted spoon. When all have been boiled, place the baking sheet(s) in the oven for 30 minute or until golden brown and they sound hollow on the bottom when tapped.

Maybe they need to rise a second time?

Savory Bread Pudding

Here we go. It has taken me nearly two weeks to get this post from recipe made to up on the blog. All I can say is that life happened. Sinus infection, never ending work schedule, and then the damned (sorry) time change. Can I say how much I do not like the time change? Yeah, yeah we get a whole 'nother hour of sunlight. Nobody ever talks about the month it takes for your body to adjust to the change. Nor do they talk about the craziness that ensues with children let alone ones with sensory issues. Do I need to say anything more about this?

Anyway. The idea for these muffins was born back in the fall when I made sun-dried tomato and basil muffins that only I liked. I put half of them in the freezer intending to make bread pudding. Looky! Here is the bread pudding. I kept it simple with just vegetables and put my meat (an apple-chicken sausage) on the side. Made about 5 very yummy servings, and was a great way to use up my savory bread/muffin. Enjoy!

Savory Bread Pudding

2 dozen savory mini muffins

6 eggs

1 1/2 cups almond milk

1 teaspoon dried minced onion

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon basil

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

1/2-1 cup diced vegetables

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, spices, cheese and vegetables. In this case, I defrosted some crinkle cut zucchini and tri-colored peppers, and then diced them up. Set aside. Cube up bread/muffins, and add to egg mixture coating thoroughly. Dump either into a 9 x 9 greased pan or 5 (or 6) individual ramekins. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes or until the egg mixture is firm and your pudding is slightly pouffy. Serve hot.

September Ingredient Challenge Part 2

So here we are in October. Granted it is just the 2nd, but I had intended to get this all done on Friday. However, I goofed and put to much baking soda in my "biscuit" batter, and had to get more fresh basil from my mom's. Yes, I said biscuits (we are ignoring the baking soda incident). I had intended biscuits, but for some reason my batter wasn't quite there. As mini-muffins though they are fabulous, and I am making soup to go with them. Or at least opening a carton of soup to warm up. :)

Sun Dried Tomato and Basil Mini-Muffins

90 grams garbanzo bean flour

30 grams brown rice flour

60 grams potato starch

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 egg

2 ounces olive oil

4 ounces non-dairy (or dairy) milk

1/8 Cup sun dried tomatoes (the kind in a bag not packed in oil)

2-3 teaspoons fresh basil, chopped finely

In a small bowl place your sun dried tomatoes. Pour boiling water over them to cover and let steep for 10 minutes. Set aside. In a medium bowl, measure out the flours, salt, and baking soda. Whisk to combine. Measure out milk, olive oil and egg in a

glass measuring cup and set aside. Drain and chop the sun dried tomatoes. Add milk mixture to the flour. Stir to combine. Add basil and tomatoes stirring to just combine. Then using your hand dandy small cookie scoop (small spoon works as well), place one scoop batter into each muffin "cup" in the greased tin. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. Cool and remove. Makes approximately 2 1/2 dozen.

I had these last ingredients to work with, and had no clue what to do with them. That is until I hit upon the idea of a tart! Little mini-indulgences with a hint of lemon and topped with chocolate. Oh, yeah!

Lemon Cream Cheese Tarts

Tart Shell (fabulous recipe over at Simply Sugar & Gluten Free)

Press small ball of dough into tart pan. Bake for 7-10 minutes. They should be slightly brown on edges. Cool and fill. (Note: If you aren't gluten free, just use your favorite pie crust even it if comes in a red box from the grocery store.)

Cream Cheese Filling

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 Cup coconut cream

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

2 Tablespoons honey

2 Tablespoons turbinado sugar

Beat all ingredients together until smooth and creamy. Adjust lemon and/or sugar until you are pleased with the flavor. I liked this. Put in an airtight container and refrigerate while making your pastry. These were then topped with a square of dark chocolate melted with a dash of cinnamon, and then drizzled over the top.

Monkey liked them so much he asked for 2nd's!

Strawberry Rhubarb Bread Pudding

In a further effort to clean out our freezer, I retrieved a bag of gluten free vanilla cupcakes (Vanilla Cake Mix from Namaste) and some gluten free mini-muffins that had not been eaten as they didn't raise (i.e. little hockey pucks). These are the base of my pudding, which was a very moist one. I prefer mine more bread like than pudding-y. The rhubarb was a find from thefarmer's market, and my first attempt at stewing. I think I may have had to much liquid in there, but the process was easier than I expected. Again, I offer a way to use ingredients both ingredients that may be going stale or hanging about combined with the current fruits of the season. Enjoy!

Strawberry Rhubarb Bread Pudding

2 eggs

1/2 Cup non-dairy milk

1 Cup diced strawberries

1 1/2 Cups stewed rhubarb*

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

10 mini vanilla cupcakes, cubed

12 mini-muffins, cubed

white chocolate sauce*

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 6 ramekins with non-stick spray and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine eggs, milk, vanilla, rhubarb and strawberries. Add cubed cupcakes and muffins. Stir to coat. Divide evenly between ramekins. Place in oven and bake for 30-45 minutes or until bread tops are slightly crisp. Pour sauce over the top. Serve warm.

*Stewed Rhubarb:

1 1/2 Cups rhubarb, diced

water to cover

1/2 Cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Place rhubarb in a small saucepan. Just cover with water, and bring to a boil. Simmer for about 20 minutes until falling apart. Remove from heat and add in sugar and cinnamon until dissolved. Pour into a glass measuring cup. If it is less than 1 1/2 Cups don't worry. I honestly think it was to much.

White Chocolate Sauce:

4 Tablespoons butter, unsalted

6 squares white chocolate from a baking bar

Melt stirring constantly over a low heat. Pour over warm pudding.

Blueberry-Peach Bread Pudding

Doesn't that look yummy?! We aren't going to talk about the calories, because that big ol' piece was well worth every single one of them O.M.G!

Maybe I should go back to the beginning? This recipe was born from a series of mistakes. The first was when I tried to make chocolate banana blueberry bread for last month's SOS Kitchen Challenge. It was dry, and the Monkey did not like it at all. I ate one loaf, and put the other into the freezer. I am a saver or something like that.


Then I went and bought peaches at the store. How can this be a mistake you ask? I mis-remembered the kind of fruit my sister adores. Thinking I was being a great sister bringing home crunchy peaches (her favorite), she informed me that it was actually nectarines. So, now I have bunches of peaches hanging out in the drawer, and a loaf of chocolate bread in the freezer. What do I decide to do? Buy fresh blueberries at the farmer's market and make bread pudding.

Wait! There's more! When pulling out the bread, I discovered that I had about a dozen gluten free chocolate cupcakes hanging out in the freezer. So I incorporated those as well! I can't tell you what brand it has been long that they have been hiding out in there, and I kind of stopped buying mixes as they make a lot for one little youngling to consume before going bad. So my note before going into the recipe is that you can use any sort of bread/cake, chocolate or otherwise for this recipe. I highly recommend the chocolate though!


Blueberry-Peach Bread Pudding

2 eggs
1/2 Cup dark chocolate almond milk (any non-dairy milk is fine, but again Choc-o-late!)
2 fresh peaches, diced (approx. 1 Cup)
3/4 Cup fresh blueberries
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Brown Sugar Sauce:

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter
100 grams brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Drop peaches into a pot of boiling water for 2 minutes. Cool and then peel with a butter knife. Remove from seed and dice into mid-size chunks. Set aside. Cube your bread/cupcake into fairly large chunks. You don't want crumbs, but you don't want huge pieces. I cut the mini-cupcakes into quarters. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla. Add in peaches and blueberries. Then stir in bread. Make sure all bread is well coated with the egg and fruit mixture. Pour into a greased 8 x 8 pan, and bake for 30-40 minutes. The custard shouldn't jiggle and the top should be a bit crisp. Pour brown sugar sauce over the top. Serve warm. (Makes 6 servings)

Brown sugar butter sauce: Melt butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Add brown sugar, stirring until melted. Bring to a slight boil while stirring. Boil one minute, and then pour over pudding.

Coconut Scones

I have recently been buying up great quantities of the amazing Almond Joy creamer from International Delights. It is a limited edition, which means that I need to consume as much as possible before it goes away. Right?! Yes, I have an addiction to both coffee and creamer, and this month's Ratio Rally baked good goes perfectly with both. Given my current obsession, it is natural that my brain went immediately to coconut. Coincidentally enough one of my very favorite things in the whole world.

I don't remember the first time I ever had a Mounds or an Almond Joy or even that first taste of sweet coconut. I do remember the first time I had haupia at Camp Paumalu on the island of Oahu. It was the most amazing, melt in your mouth treat I had consumed in a long time. That was 1989. I remember when See's Candies re-introduced the Coconut Special for their anniversary. It was all luscious flaked coconut, honey and dark chocolate. I, also, remember the first time I made a German Chocolate cake for my library school roommate's birthday. It wasn't pretty, and the cooked frosting had odd bits of egg in it. She loved it though. See? I have a thing for coconut.

The first thing I will tell you is that there isn't an official ratio for scones. They aren't really a biscuit (and my biscuit like, slightly doughy versions are going to make lovely pudding), and they aren't really a bread or a Scottish pancake. I had no idea that I would spend 30 minutes researching drop scones in an effort to make something the monkey liked. He wasn't overfond of my first version, which is what you are getting here. They were to mushy, I believe he said. Upon further discussion, he just didn't like the flavor or texture of the curd. Good enough. I tried something else. You aren't getting that recipe as it still needs tweaking, and my grocery bag of ingredients is empty. Maybe another time. Again, he made the suggestion that they would be better with chocolate. What wouldn't be made better with chocolate, really?



The recipe that I based this off of is from Betty Crocker for Ginger-Lemon scones. I have made it a number of times using the recipe as is and the lemon curd I have linked below. It is wonderful, which is why I wanted to do something similar here. The ratio works out to be 3:1:0.5 (flour:liquid:fat). With my choice of coconut flour, I found myself using twice as much liquid as called for due to its ability to absorb a lot of liquid. This is alright though as others had much success with the 3:2:1 ratio or in my case I still have that .5 fat. That makes them less fattening, right?

Make sure to go and see all the other scone recipes!

Coconut Scones with Pineapple Curd

150 grams coconut flour
90 grams sweet white rice flour
90 grams arrowroot starch
50 grams coconut palm sugar
40 grams flaked coconut
3 teaspoons baking powder
300 ml coconut milk beverage
1/3 Cup butter, chilled
1/4 teaspoon coconut extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In mixer bowl, combine flours, starch, sugar, coconut, and baking powder. Cut in the butter slowly by cutting off small rectangular pieces of the butter, and dropping them in while the mixer runs on low. It should resemble a crumbly mixture in the bowl when it is done. Don't over mix. Slowly add in the milk and coconut extract. Mix until well combined, and the dough has formed a ball or is just sticking to the paddle. Divide the dough in half. Roll the first half into a 7 inch round on a greased cookie sheet. Spread 1/4 to 1/2 Cup pineapple curd over the top to within an inch of the edges. Roll the other half of the dough out into a slightly wider circle, and place on top of the curd. Pinch/press the edges together to keep everything looking pretty. Score the top into 8 slices remember to cut short of the curd layer. Bake at 400 for 35-45 minutes. Glaze while warm. Serves 8.

Glaze:

2/3 Cup powdered sugar
3-4 teaspoons coconut milk
1/8 teaspoon coconut extract

Stir all ingredients together until smooth. Drizzle over the tops of warm scones.


Pineapple Curd (based off this Lemon Curd recipe)

240 grams sugar
3 eggs
1/4 Cup butter, melted
4 ounces pineapple puree

Using a handheld blender or small food processor, puree enough pineapple tidbits/chunks/rings to make 4 ounces of liquid. In a medium pan (because a soup pan is to small), whisk your eggs until they are broken up. Stir in the sugar. Add pineapple puree and melted butter. Cook over a medium-low heat, whisking constantly about 15 minutes or until it has thickened. Let it cool in the pan, and then refrigerate overnight.

Note: Ideally, the double boiler method called for in the original recipe is what should be used. I am not in possession of such an item, and my homemade attempts at one often leave me with food on me and the floor.